Sea Change

Some believe that the soul doesn’t die with the body, that it’s often given second chances to right wrongs and fulfill destinies and for Ava Whalen that destiny was Matthew Frazier. From the moment she met him she felt a belonging that had eluded her, her entire life and their courtship as fast as it was felt like coming home, so much so that even to the dismay of her mother she travels from her home in Antioch to Matthew’s centuries old family home on St. Simons Island Georgia. Yet the fulfillment she seeks is still as elusive as ever when she finds out that Matthew is keeping secrets from her, secrets that could kill their burgeoning love, secrets like she’s not the first Mrs. Frazier and that Matthew’s first wife died under show more suspicious circumstances and Matthew isn’t talking about it. To complicate matters further Ava is having unsettling déjà vu in her new home and new town, disturbing flashes from a past that seems real to her, a past that she feels a certain intimacy with a past that’s full of Frazier family skeletons falling out of more closets than you can imagine. Through it all she’s not only determined to find the truth to some disturbing questions but she also knows one thing with conviction and that is the love she feels for Matthew. Will Ava get the answers that she seeks and will those answers be worth the price she has to pay.
Karen White has never disappointed me and this time she goes above and beyond with her beautiful and ethereal story of love, tragedy and reclamation with her customary Low Country feel. She does it with her unique prose like narrative that took me right into the pages where I could feel the Ocean spray on my face and see the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees and smell the fragrances of the area, where both temporal and otherworldly images filled my mind as I read. Her characters do a brilliant job of telling the tale and there are no minor actors in this play from Ava who’s fragile yet unimaginably strong, Matthew who’s a puzzle from the start all the way down the line. The love story is front and center and is both timeless and ageless and my heart was involved through the entire breathtaking novel.
Ms. White has taken me on some amazing journeys in my years of reading her but this one will stand out as one of the best.
This will appeal to a multitude of readers from the romance lover to the fans of paranormal but especially it will speak to the lover of literary fiction.
Thank you Ms. White for another trip into your fertile imagination and I can’t wait to see where you take me to next.
Please click the link to see a Q&A w/Karen White http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Fiction-General-Discussion/New-Release-fe... show less

“Some are called to be gardeners of souls, and she'd tended hers with the blind dedication that accepted the floods and famine along with the sunshine.”
― Karen White, Sea Change

Beautifully told Southern Historical (and present day) Fiction.

This was my first experience with a Karen White book. My thoughts? I have read a soaring, hauntingly lovely 5 star novel!

Ava has moved, with her new husband Mathew to a small island off the coast of Georgia. But she expected to feel at peace and she doesn't. The stunningly beautiful island is cloaked in mystery that goes back to the early Eighteen Hundreds There is much about the island Ava does not understand, including her own connection to it and events that occurred there so very long show more ago.

Then there is the writing. Karen White writes in colors. Seriously. The writing is descriptive and lovely and the book is dripping with vivid colors. And be they Aquamarine or Yellow or Turquoise the reader feels the book and its colors all around them.

I do love writing where every word is a celebration, a poem. That is what you will find here. The imagery evoked of the beautiful island and the characters who inhabit them are beautifully drawn and I was enthralled.

This is also not just Historical fiction. Much of it takes place in current times. I love books that manage to combine genres and do it well and Sea Change is Historical,romance, Gothic, magical realism, contemporary, family saga. I mean it. The book touches so many genres. That is one of the reasons I adore it. It does not fall into any one category.

In this book's case there is not even a question of a rating. Five stars. It is also among my favorites in recent memory.

I would recommend the story of Ava and Mathew and others..to just about everyone because it touches so many genres but because the story is evocative and lovely. And yes, I will be reading more from Karen White. show less

Sea Change by Karen White revolves around the story of thirty-four year old Ava Whalen who’s just been married and has moved to a new home in St. Simons Island, Georgia. This book explores the whirlwind romance following the very short engagement and surprise marriage to Matthew.
It then moves on to Ava’s search for the secrets of her husband’s past.
This book also explores the possibility of past lives and reincarnation. Ava is haunted by the feeling that she knows St Simons and her new husbands house even though she has never been there before.
There is much she doesn’t know about Matthew, including the mysterious circumstances surrounding his first wife’s death. And Matthew's ancestral home seems to hold as many mysteries and show more secrets as her new husband. With the help of a new friend, Trish, Ava throws herself into uncovering Matthew’s family history and that of the island. She slowly begins to realize that she has a connection of her own to St Simons.
What I really liked was the constant mystery and intrigue in this book. What I did not like was that it sometimes seemed to move slowly in releasing it's secrets and I was so anxious to discover what was going on. Lots of suspense and build up and it all comes together in a dramatic ending. show less

I like this one better than The House on Tradd Street. However, it is still not great. I would charge this one with a lack of subtlety and a repetiveness of certain details which leads the reader to feel she is being beaten over the head with a "this is important...I'm giving you a hint...IMPORTANT!" hammer. Also, how many time is she White going to use the "seeminly devoted wife and mother abandons husband and son for another man" thread? Bit of a lack of inventiveness, no?

Need mind candy with a romance, mystery, history angle? This will do. Need good writing and a fascinating and suspenseful plot? You might want to look elsewhere.

I like this one better than The House on Tradd Street. However, it is still not great. I would charge this one with a lack of subtlety and a repetiveness of certain details which leads the reader to feel she is being beaten over the head with a "this is important...I'm giving you a hint...IMPORTANT!" hammer. Also, how many time is she White going to use the "seeminly devoted wife and mother abandons husband and son for another man" thread? Bit of a lack of inventiveness, no?

Need mind candy with a romance, mystery, history angle? This will do. Need good writing and a fascinating and suspenseful plot? You might want to look elsewhere.

I like this one better than The House on Tradd Street. However, it is still not great. I would charge this one with a lack of subtlety and a repetiveness of certain details which leads the reader to feel she is being beaten over the head with a "this is important...I'm giving you a hint...IMPORTANT!" hammer. Also, how many time is she White going to use the "seeminly devoted wife and mother abandons husband and son for another man" thread? Bit of a lack of inventiveness, no?

Need mind candy with a romance, mystery, history angle? This will do. Need good writing and a fascinating and suspenseful plot? You might want to look elsewhere.

Add this book to your summer reading list. Seriously. Do it! Sea Change by Karen White is a mixture of mystery, romance, and history. Ava Whalen has been afraid of water since she was a baby. Nobody knows or understands why. Ava's mom, Gloria, loves her but has always been standoffish towards Ava. Pamela lived 200 years before in the same St. Simons Island house as Ava and her new husband, Matthew Frazier. The story is told from all three women's point of view.
Ava and Matthew married after a whirlwind romance. They decide to move to the coastal town of St. Simons. They move into Mathew's ancestral home. They are both eager to start their new lives together. On their first night there, Ava learns that Matthew has been married before. She show more is upset that such a big detail was withheld from her. Eager to know more about his first wife, Ava starts to uncover some disturbing details about the mysterious death of Mathew's first wife, Adrienne. Ava digs deeper to find out if the man she loves could be responsible for Adrienne's death. Ava and Adrienne also share an obsession about a mystery that happened over 200 years ago on the island. Meanwhile Ava's mother, Gloria, is devastated that Ava moved to the island. Gloria and Ava have always had a strained relationship. Since moving to the island, it has become even more so. Secrets are being kept from all sides.
Sea Change is a great read. It's reminiscent of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. It has the same mysterious, haunted feel that Rebecca holds. The journeys from the past to the present are fascinating as the story unfolds. The characters are fantastic. White keeps you guessing on who to trust. One of my favorite characters is Mimi. She's Ava's ninety-one year old grandmother. Despite her age, she has no intention of slowing down. She's a feisty, spirited woman that made me laugh. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. show less